A group managing the rebuild of Christchurch's earthquake-damaged infrastructure is to be headed by the local goverment "tsar" who oversaw the formation of Auckland's "super council".
Watercare Auckland head Mark Ford has been appointed as the chair of the client governance group, which represents the Christchurch City Council, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA), and the New Zealand Transport Agency as the owners of the damaged infrastructure.
Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says the work with big companies involved in the rebuild has been going well, and Mr Ford will ensure that continues.
The alliance of private companies and central and local government agencies is known as the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT), and employing around 950 people, Mr Brownlee says in a statement.
"In the next few months, the infrastructure rebuild will ramp up to $40 million work being completed each month and an estimated 120 to 150 work sites underway throughout the city at any one time, involving a workforce of 2500," Mr Brownlee says.
The SCIRT alliance has three funding partners, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA), Christchurch City Council (CCC), and New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), and five delivery members - City Care, Downer, Fulton Hogan, MacDow, and Fletcher Construction.
He says the Government is represented by two of the three funding partners, so it is important that there is an independent chair to ensure all parties are fairly represented.
